Statement

Exploration and discovery are at the forefront of what I do and I am drawn to techniques and processes that produce unpredictable outcomes. I enjoy dissecting, deconstructing, reimagining and reconstructing, and use a variety of mediums, including painting, printmaking, dyeing and stitch, to investigate these ideas. Through bookbinding I produce a lot of waste offcuts and so I am also interested in ways to repurpose those materials in the rest of my art practice.

So much of my work is influenced by, and makes direct reference to, nature and the natural world. Through processes like natural dyeing and ecoprinting, I use plants from my garden and the surrounding local area to examine my own connection to nature and explore themes of location and sense of place. Ecoprints in particular allow nature to be recorded as it is: all the lines, marks and uniqueness of each leaf captured in that moment in time, and in doing so I document nature.

I am also conscious of human impact on nature and how manmade structures interact and coexist with the natural world. Some of the dyeing process I use, use that juxtaposition of manmade materials and nature to work, such as ecoprinting around tin cans, which creates prints of leaves with the rusted lines of the tin cans running between them (From the Garden: November 2019), showing the contrast between the organic shapes of nature and the structure of human intervention.

A lot of my work explores themes of decay and degeneration, particularly looking at derelict buildings and how, after being abandoned by humans, they are reclaimed and regenerated by nature. I am fascinated by documenting this passage of time and finding ways to represent the different stages along that journey. The unpredictability of many of my creative processes play into these ideas. I use slow dyeing processes such as ecoprinting and rust dyeing, where I set things up and essentially allow the process to do the work for me, to create exciting and unexpected outcomes, that I am then able to reshape and bring order to.

Biography

Blue Cedar Studios is run by artist and bookbinder Ciara Pound. Named after the blue cedar tree growing in the middle of my childhood garden, Blue Cedar Studios was created in 2023 as a way to bring together all aspects of my creative practice under one roof.

Although I studied Film and Television Studies (2010-11) and Graphic Design (2012-14) at university, it was my Art and Design Foundation (2011-12) that I found the most fulfilling. The opportunity to explore and work in such a wide variety of disciplines was inspiring and continues to inform my creative practice today.

I first started experimenting with ecoprinting in 2019 and have developed my skills using natural dyes from the pantry and leaves picked from my garden and local area. Originally based in the south east of England, in 2025 I moved to the Lake District in the north west, where I now work in my home studio.